Beginning in October, the 45-year-old musician, fashion designer, and role model, Kanye West publicly made antisemitic comments on social media and in interviews, stirring up a lot of feelings in his Jewish audience across the country.

West’s latest actions have been getting a lot of media attention, however, his antisemitism and hate date back months and even years. 

Some things that have gained the media’s attention included West posting a conversation where he reiterated the stereotype of greed and the need for control within the Jewish population. 

West also tweeted how he would go “Death con 3 on Jewish people,” which was seen as a misspelling of defcon and he claimed it was not anti-semitic, but his access to Twitter was still blocked. 

As the months progressed, more shocking statements came to light. West declared to Piers Morgan Uncensored that he did not regret or take back any of his anti-semitic remarks. And Even people who used to work with West told NBC News that he had previously made multiple pro-hitler and pro-nazi statements that can be dated all the way back to 2018. 

And while West may have intended to comment on the control of the music industry, his remarks have come off as anti-semitic which has caused people in not just the Jewish community but many brands and sponsors to become uneasy about him and his brand. 

Well-known designer brands like Adidas, Vogue, and Balenciaga dropped West to protest and condemn his recent actions in the media. Which started the worldwide canceling trend to reach the doorstep of Mr. West.

Brands are not the only people who have condemned the West, the Jewish community and cities in the State of Washington have been fighting to combat the antisemitism that has been arising in the US recently. 

The city of Bellevue in Washington State became the first Pacific Northwest city to adopt the internationally recognized definition of antisemitism to show commitment in helping to fight against anti-Jewish hatred. 

“As one of the most diverse cities in Washington, we need to state unambiguously that hate has no place in Bellevue,” Deputy Mayor Jared Nieuwenhuis said.

A junior at Lake Washington High School Sarah Nahmias believes that West has always been comical so no one takes what he says seriously, but that this is one of the first things he has done that is more damaging because no one finds it funny.  

She believes that it’s of great importance “that people start to take West’s comments seriously,” because right now she feels no one is talking about it and the world is ignoring the harm he has caused the Jewish community. 

“The fact that no one is making a big deal out of it means that no one cares enough to say that it’s wrong,” Nahmias said.

An opinion piece was published by the Seattle Times in response to local anti-semitic incidences in Washington. A largely known hate group had distributed multiple anti-semitic fliers at people’s homes in the cities of Renton and Newcastle, however, this did not get any media coverage. 

Authors Miri Cypers and Will Berkovitz said, “In the end, we are a society and a country of “others.” And until we can see our humanness and not our otherness, nothing will change.”

Elie Weisel a holocaust survivor and the author of the book Night once said, “The opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference.”